[Wildcatk23]

You really need to look at the other side of the story. After the coal has been mined, the law states to reclaim the mined mountain(s). Mining operations do this. Do you think once coal is mined in an area then it just stays the way it is? Trees are replanted and the vegetation comes back just as good, if not better than it was before being mined.

As phs stated, a lot of positives come from mountain top removal. Just look at the city of Hazard, a lot of it is nothing but reclaimed property. A state-of-the-ark golf course, StoneCrest in Prestonsburg is nothing but reclaimed mountains. The wildlife (such as deer, elk, turkey, wild birds, rabbits, foxes, etc.) end up with even better habitat, with brush and cover, and open areas which they often prefer. Mountain top removal by no means destroys wildlife in any way. You've got to understand what you are arguing against before you make the statements you make.

The only thing wrong with mountain top removal is that there is a SMALL amount of pollution released. Mining companies do what they can to minimize it. This thread isn't about that, so I won't get into that. But you need to understand what you are arguing against here.

And your only looking at the positives,

Only thing Wrong? Try

Land becomes an attraction for flooding and erosion
Strip mining destroys animal life and vegetation
SUBSIDENCE: falling 5-6 feet lower than you were minutes before, so essentially its like little hills taking over the terrain
Have you ever heard of Buffalo Creek WVU
The Buffalo Creek Flood was an incident that occurred on February 26, 1972, when the Pittston Coal Company's coal slurry impoundment dam #3, located on a hillside in Logan County, West Virginia, USA, burst four days after having been declared 'satisfactory' by a federal mine inspector.[1]
The resulting flood unleashed approximately 132 million gallons (500,000,000 L) of black waste water, cresting over 30ft high, upon the residents of 16 coal mining hamlets in Buffalo Creek Hollow. Out of a population of 5,000 people, 125 were killed, 1,121 were injured, and over 4,000 were left homeless. 507 houses were destroyed, in addition to forty-four mobile homes and 30 businesses.[1] The disaster also destroyed or damaged homes in Lundale, Saunders, Amherstdale, Crites, Latrobe and Larado. In its legal filings, Pittston Coal referred to the accident as "an Act of God.

I know what your thinking, Well That Was 30 Years Ago, Try This One That Happned In My County,
The Martin County Sludge Spill was an accident that occurred after midnight on October 11, 2000 when the bottom of a coal sludge impoundment owned by Massey Energy in Martin County, Kentucky, USA, broke into an abandoned underground mine below. The slurry came out of the mine openings, sending an estimated 306 million gallons (1.16 billion liters) of sludge down two tributaries of the Tug Fork River. By morning, Wolf Creek was oozing with the black waste; on Coldwater Fork, a ten-foot (3 m) wide stream became a 100-yard (91 m) expanse of thick sludge.
The spill was over five feet deep in places and covered nearby residents' yards. The spill polluted hundreds of miles (300 - 500 km) of the Big Sandy River and its tributaries and the Ohio River. The water supply for over 27,000 residents was contaminated, and all aquatic life in Coldwater Fork and Wolf Creek was killed. The spill was 30 times larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill (12 million gallons) and one of the worst environmental disasters ever in the southeastern United States, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.[citation needed] The spill was exceeded in volume by the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill in 2008.